In the midst of researching ALT working conditions at the Kitakyushu Board of Education, the Fukuoka General Union stumbled across a number of interesting documents via the Freedom of Information Act. Here's one, in particular, that made us quite unhappy...

In direct opposition to the law, the Board of Education has been caught demanding that a dispatch company replace the male ALT they were planning to send to the school with a female ALT, instead.

Their reasoning? They "had planned the curriculum on the premise of a female teacher coming to the school". This was a co-ed public school in Kitakyushu, and the school was willing to cancel classes until the male teacher was replaced.